Enlightenment, freedom, and Political rights: creating a “just” society Hobbes: “life is nasty, brutish, and short...”
Pessimistic about humans
fear of anarchy--bad for economics
Ultimate power with strong ruler
“Leviathan”

John Locke: “Wherever law ends, tyranny begins.”
Rights: “life, liberty, and property...”
optimistic about humans
IF equality and tolerance....
ultimate power with people

Thomas Hobbe’sIn Leviathan, Thomas Hobbe’s argued that ordinary people were incapable of governing themselves and should willingly submit to the sovereignty of a supreme ruler. They carry out the ruler’s demands, and the ruler, in return, agrees to keep the peace. This type of political theory is know as Absolutism.

Absolutism
A term applied to strong centralized monarchies that exert royal power over their dominions, usually on the grounds of divine right.

Leviathan Politics - Hobbes; All Equal > competition = war. Believes in a social contract, political absolutism, all surrender power to one.

John Locke however disagreed with Thomas Hobbe’s, in his essay human understanding.

John LockeIn the essay Human Understanding written by John Locke, he argued in opposition that humans are “by nature free, equal, and independent.” The ruler in this case should have only limited authority. Locke believed that people are capable of governing themselves. This type of political theory is called Liberalism.

Liberalism
A political theory that argues that people are by nature free, equal, and independent and that they consent to government for protection but not by surrendering sovereignty to a ruler.

English philosopher Thomas Hobbes. In his book titled, “The Leviathan”, Hobbes establishes a political philosophy from the perspective of a social contract theory. According to Hobbes, society is a population beneath a sovereign authority, to whom all individuals in that society should surrender their natural rights for the sake of protection. The...

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...Thomas Hobbes and JohnLocke were two of the great political theorists of their time. Both created great philosophical texts that help to describe the role of government in man’s life, as well as their views of man’s state of nature. Even though both men do have opposite views on many of their political arguments, the fact that they are able to structure their separate ideologies on the state of man in nature is the bond that connects them. Both men look toward the creation of civil order in order to protect not only the security of the individual, but also the security of the state.
For Hobbes, the state of nature is a very bleak, dreary place. He believed that people in this state were not guided by reason, but instead were guided by our innate primal, animalistic instincts. Hobbes believed that moral concepts such as the ideas of good and evil did not exist in the state of nature, and that man could use any force necessary in order to protect his life and goods around him. Hobbes called this condition “War” which meant “every man against every man.” Hobbes also described the state of nature as having no benefits that people in modern society take for granted: “No commerce, no agriculture, and no account of time, no arts, no letters, and no society.” Men in this state live with an overbearing sense of fear and grief, always on the defense in order to protect themselves,...

...Locke and Hobbes
Thomas Hobbes and JohnLocke are two famous philosophers who existed during the seventeenth and eighteenth century. The two men had divergent views pertaining to the nature of man and the ideal forms of government. While both men's ideas were proven true, they did reflect on their personal experiences basing on the period of times in which they existed. Their beliefs impacted on the world around them, and they have continued to shape governances throughout history. Though both men's ideas still hold some truth in today's world, Locke's ideas are the most clearly supported.
Locke's belief was that each man is born with equality, freedom and independence. According to his views, men can form social contracts, which are able to draw a nation together. In his Second Treatise on Government, Locke states that "no one can be put out of this estate and subjected to the political power of another without his own consent, which is done by agreeing with other men, to join and unite a community for their comfortable, safe, and peaceable living... " by this he ideally implies that every individual deserves a right of freedom but for one to receive a government's security and protection, they ought to sacrifice some of their freedom. Locke applies the idea of democracy whereby every individual takes part in creating the leadership of a nation. He further conceived that,...

...In the Eyes of JohnLocke and Thomas Hobbes
After the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 there was certainly a need for increased government/police power to provide and keep peace and security throughout the nation. Yet with this increase a suppression of individual civil liberties is inherently necessary. Naturally the more surveillance of private citizens, the less privacy they are afforded. According to JohnLocke this is seen as an infringement upon the natural rights of individuals.
In his opinion, life, liberty, health and possessions are seen as sacred to each person. All people are considered equal according to their divine right to not be imposed upon in regards to these above rights. And it is the responsibility of civil government, created in mutual agreement of the mass, to make sure that these rights are not infringed upon. Thus in the case of increased governmental surveillance, JohnLocke would find it hard to justify the right of the government to infringe upon the personal rights of its people considering that the purpose of this government is to protect those rights.
Because the social contract created by the people when creating government was consciously set forth by the people “to better preserve himself, his liberty and property” it would be stepping beyond the responsibilities and boundaries of its very purpose if it was to suppress the...

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John Locke’s Political Influence
JohnLocke is among the most influential political philosophers of the modern period. One can easily see his tremendous influence on democracies throughout the world, especially the United States, today. Locke was born during 1632 in Somerset, England. He was the son of a Puritan lawyer who fought with the Parliamentarians against the King in the English Civil War. At the age of 14, Locke attended Westminster School; and later went on to study at Oxford University. At the age of 43, Locke had traveled to France, where he would stay for four years to study Descartes and other great minds of the age. Locke then moved to Holland in 1683 amongst political unrest in England, which made living there dangerous for him. There he joined other English political exiles in a plot to overthrow King James II, which succeeded, resulting in the Glorious Revolution of 1688 and the flee of the King. By this time in the late 1680s-mid 1690s, Locke’s most influential philosophical works were published. From these works, Locke has been considered the Father of Classical Liberalism.
Classic liberalism advocates civil liberties and political freedom with representative government. During the time of Locke, most people believed that fundamental rights came from government....

...understand all aspects of human life. The motivations for the enlightenment came primarily from the Englishmen, JohnLocke. JohnLocke was a philosophical influence in both political theory and theoretical philosophy, which was embraced among the era of 1789-1914 and the concept of equal rights among men. John Locke’s writings influenced the works of multiple diplomats concerning liberty and the social contract between society and the government. Locke’s ideology of man and power was the base for the concept of separation of powers. As one of the enlightenment thinkers, JohnLocke wrote the Two Treatises of Government influencing the framework of his ideal vision of the nature of man and his freedom, stating that all men exist in “a state of perfect freedom” as “every man being, has been showed, naturally free.” (Primary Sources, 156) His theories involved the money value within trading systems, education ideals, the blank mind shaped by surroundings, and the framework for the American Revolution. Locke’s ideas were taken and embraced as his ideas “seemed to offer the hope of a brave new world” built on reason.” (Spielvogel 516)
The enlightenment was an era of intellectual and social growth as people began to challenge and view the world changed. During the era, society began to believe all men are free people, a concept enforced by John Locke’s ideologies....

...civil war, the attempts to combine king’s authority and the right of resistance had come into question. During this one of most transformative period in English history, Locke offers his opinion and provides an adequate solution to sovereignty resistance for all citizens (Franklin, ibid, pp10). This essay will introduce Locke’s definition of the state of nature and the law of nature, and describe how it would influence the creation of a social contract. Following this I will discuss Locke’s arguments of government power and responsibility, power separation and endowed human right of rebelling, in order to validify human’s natural rights and social contract legitimate the resistance of political power.
Before the establishment of government, people lived under a circumstance called the state of nature. The term ‘state of nature’ and ‘law of nature’ are referred to by Locke in his Second Treatise of Government (Locke, 2014, Chap2). In this state, human beings enjoyed freedom, and created equally by god. (Locke, 2014, Chap2, Sec4) Hence, for Locke, men are believed to be free, equal and independent. Locke’s argument follows religious fundamentals to argue for equality: god created human, endowed humans rights to live. Resulting from that, they are duty-bound to protect their own life and freedom. Pointed out by Locke, besides life and freedom, the right to property is also gifted by god in...

...In 1642 England was starting to seek for changes in the way their government was set up. JohnLocke and Samuel Rutherford were the leaders of this change, calling for the removal of an absolute monarch. Their works would be opposed by the ideas of Thomas Hobbes, during this eighteen-year civil war in England. The ideas represented in this period would heavily influence the way England’s government would be set up in the eighteenth century.
In 1644 Bishop Ross, also known as John Maxwell, published Sacro-Sancta Regum Majestas.The article’s ideas centered on Calvinist resistance theory and the political theory of Spanish neo-scholastics. In response Samuel Rutherford came out with his publication, Lex Rex, which translates to “Law is King”. This was the first document proposing rule by law and consisted of 44 questions. In Rutherford’s opinion, power was immediately from God in root. With that being his focus he concluded that not only should the king not be above the law but should also be subject to it. Lex Rex is the “Greatest work on the foundation, nature and constitutional government, the Civil Magistrate, and the separate but mutual relationship of Church and State” (Ford).
The contents of Lex Rex develop the idea of a separation of powers between legislative, executive and judicial functions. They are to balance one another in no particular order to combine the best features of monarchic, aristocratic and...

...Thomas Hobbes and JohnLocke both sought to explain the behavior of humans in the purest form. In comparing and contrasting their theories, one begins to realize the extent to which these philosophers agreed and disagreed. While Hobbes states that human nature is malicious and requires a sovereign, Locke explains how humans are benelovant and pastoral with no motivation to advance.
In Hobbes’ theory of a natural state, people live with no sense of government or law, forcing society into chaos and a war where “every man [is] against every man” (Hobbes 1651:3). Without the constraints of an institution, people begin to reveal their most unpleasant virtues. The three “principal causes of quarrel” include competition, diffidence and glory (Hobbes 1651:2). In order to control these causes, Hobbes proposes a sovereign with the ability to preside over all. He proposes a Leviathan with which the people can create a social contract and increase their probability of self-preservation. In return for its protection, the Leviathan assumes the power over all through violence, resulting in contracts of fear. Ensuing from the contract with the Leviathan, society understands that “a kingdom divided in itself cannot stand” (Hobbes 1651:7). Similar to the covenant between Rome and the Romans, however, if their sovereign fails to uphold its conditions...